


This will be the last time we'll fight

by Ely_Pines



Series: The Ultimate Voltron S8 AU [10]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allurance - Freeform, Basically everyone has PTSD, Disabled Keith, Gen, Hidge - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Klance - freeform, Multi, Pidge has PTSD, Post Voltron S07
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-20 17:35:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16560233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ely_Pines/pseuds/Ely_Pines
Summary: Zarkon's gone, Lotor's gone, Sendak's gone. You think the Paladins of Voltron would finally take a break. But there are more enemies, old ones as well as new ones, coming for them. And Voltron is the only thing standing between them and the rest of the Universe.





	1. The Revolution of Pidge - Part One

**Author's Note:**

> The big sequel is here guys! I am so excited! \\*0*/  
> But before we get started, few notes:
> 
> 1\. I had tagged ship names but what I really meant was relationships so not necessarily romantic ones. (Especially when it'll come down to Pidge who I headcanon as a little aro-ace fuck)  
> 2\. You do NOT need to have read all the previous one-shots to read the sequel. Just know that we're after S7 and the rest is/will be in the tags.  
> 3\. Enjoy and leave comments! (I love comments. I really do.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge doesn't want to be a Paladin anymore and she tries to convince the other Paladins to join her. But the Universe still needs people to be able to form Voltron.

They were in the middle of the briefing - they had decided to split up in two teams and were deciding which team was going after Sendak’s ex-lieutenant and which one was going to look for the Altean colonies - when Pidge suddenly rose up to her feet and smashed her hands on the table.

“And what about no?” she asked angrily.

Shiro who was talking right before she stepped in, frowned. Coran, standing next to him - they had been talking about the possibilities of the ATLAS - rose a questioning eyebrow.

“Pidge” said Shiro and he didn’t look amused at all, “What do you mean by no?”

Pidge felt like her cheeks ignited. Everyone was staring at her now. Her father, Sam Holt, had his arms crossed on the table. Hunk looked mildly nervous as well as Lance and Allura while Keith was frowning at her, too. The rest of the people gathered here - mostly the Garrison’ high command - stared unfriendly at her.

She took a deep breath.

“I mean no like in not anymore. Please.”

Shiro’s frown deepened.

“I mean I don’t want to, I mean I just-”

_Oh, for shit’s sake._

“I mean I quit!”

A loud murmur ran through the whole room. Shiro himself looked like he’d been punched in the stomach, mouth opened but without saying a word.

Pidge couldn’t bring herself to look at her team mates. She didn’t want them to feel betrayed but she might have gone too far on this one.

Allura was first to react.

“Pidge, you can’t quit” she said in a hoarse voice.

The girl waited for what was sure to come next.

“Voltron needs you!”

Bingo.

But she was prepared for that argument.

“We can find a new pilot for the Green Lion.”

She turned to Shiro who had now regained his composure and had crossed his arm on his chest - well, more or less, given than his arm prosthetic wasn’t a full arm.

“We can find a new pilot for every Lion.”

She felt everyone in the room tensing up. The truth was, they would often talk about replacements - hell, they started to talk about it since they had become Paladins themselves - but never go beyond that point - mere talk. Voltron was a legend but so were the Paladins. (Everyone remembered how Allura was told to “be” Keith when they had performed all these shows meant to promote the Voltron Coalition.)

No one wanted the Paladins of Voltron to be someone else than who they were right now.

But Pidge had had enough. And a quick glance towards Hunk gave her courage: he was fiddling with a pen and avoiding looking at anyone which clearly meant that he didn’t disagree with her.

“We have everything we need to put up a new Voltron, right here and right now. We’ve got like a hundred of different species in the city. And remember how the first Voltron was all about diversity!  Now we can recreate it!”

Coran winced and she knew she had just made a point  But Shiro shook his head.

“We could, but why would we do that? Do you remember how long it took us to be able to control our Lions? I'm not even talking about Voltron! We can’t waste time to train new Paladins. Currently you’re all the best ones there is so we don’t need to find new pilots for the Lions. Don't you think?"

“But we’re all just kids too Shiro!”

Her scream made a few people jumped on their seat. She felt tears coming up to her eyes. She wanted to appear strong and adamant, she even repeated her speech a couple of times before the briefing but maybe it was meant to be. She just couldn’t do it anymore.

“We’re all just kids...” she repeated as her voice cracked. “And I just wanted my father and my brother back. I never wanted to fight in a war at the scale of the Universe. Now that we’re finally back home, I don’t want to go back. I-”

She clenched her fists and wiped out the tears that had started to stream down her face. When she looked up at Shiro, her voice was steadier.

“I want to stop having nightmares every night.”

Shiro looked down. Pidge glanced at her father and saw he was mortified - maybe he was feeling guilty. Allura didn’t say anything and neither did the rest of the group. Pidge bit her lips and smiled wryly.

“I’m sorry. But I’m done with Voltron.”

With these words, she turned on her heels and exited the conference room.

 

***

 

The Cafeteria on the hospital’s last floor was quiet. Hunk was cooking and humming peacefully while Pidge was leaned on the countertop and watching him. A book was open before her eyes but she didn’t pay much attention to it, reading one paragraph now and then.

“Hunk” she finally said.

The Yellow Paladin didn’t turned to her - he was bent over the oven, checking the temperature.

“Yeah?”

Pidge pressed her lips together and thought about how she was going to put it.

“Do you... What do you think about it?”

“About what?” asked Hunk while still not looking at her - the temperature was perfect and he was readjusting the cinnamon and mint cookies on the plate before he’d put them into the oven.

Pidge looked at the blueish pastries and for one moment, got distracted by the mere thought of eating them - they were so delicious after all. She forced herself to look away from them and back at his friend.

“About me quitting Voltron.”

Hunk stopped and slowly replaced the plate on the countertop. He put his hand on the flat surface and took a deep, deep breath.

“I guess that’s your own choice to make” he answered warily.

She shook her head.

“No. That’s not what I meant. What do _you_  think? Do you agree with them?”

This time, Hunk didn’t answer. But suddenly, he stood up, grabbed the plate and shoved it inside the oven, maybe a bit too brutally. Then he turned to Pidge and replied to her while removing his oven mitts.

“Look, you know how I feel about going back into battles and all that stuff.”

Pidge blushed and bit her lips nervously.

“Yes, I know.”

They had talked about it. Actually, she may have been the only person - with the exception of his family - Hunk talked to about his personal nightmares. Because an old Galra lady reminded him how many fellows of her own race he sure had killed during their missions, he'd woke up in the middle of the night, thinking that his hands were literally covered in blood. He would then spend one whole hour in the bathroom, washing them.

“I wish I could quit like you” he said.

Before she could reply, the oven rang (Hunk didn't often use the fast-cooking option so she was a bit surprised by the bell). The Yellow Paladin turned to retrieve the plate of cookies out the oven and then back on the countertop. Although they were still smoking, Pidge picked one and ate it. It was as delicious as always. She frowned.

“Why did you enter the Garrison in the first place?” she asked her friend. “You could have been such a fine cook, you know?”

He chuckled at the idea.

“Yeah, I’m not too bad.”

Pidge kept staring at him until he eventually answered her.

“My mother wanted me to have the best job in the world. Cooking was nice but it couldn’t lead to a prestigious career, you know?”

Pidge felt somewhat sorry for him.

“Still, you love cooking.”

Then she realized how that must have sounded land she hurried to finish:

“Wait, no, I’m not saying you’re not a good engineer too! I mean you’re actually of the best-”

Hunk rose his hand.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine, I got it.”

He picked up a cookie and took one bit of it as if he was testing it.

“Besides, I’m not sure I’d like to be a cook.”

“Why that?”

Hunk looked at her then down at the cookies then up again. He gestured towards the common room and the couches placed so to face the big screen on the wall - allowing for some nice movie nights.

“I’m not interested in cooking.”

Albeit confused by his declaration, Pidge waited for him to gather his thoughts. She understood it was something that he rarely said to others and she felt somewhat really happy - and proud - that he had decided to share that with her.

“I’m interesting in people. Making them happy. When I cook...”

He looked down at his big, callous hands.

“I do something good with my hands. I make people happy. That’s also my way of interacting with them. To show them how much I care about them.”

“Is that why you cooked so much when we were recovering?” Pidge asked softly.

He nodded.

“We were all so broken. I figured- I thought we would get better faster if I was spoiling you.”

Pidge smiled.

“Well, you kind of did, actually. I though I was going fat before fine.”

Hunk laughed and she joined him.

“So, are you on my side?” she asked him when they had calm down, “will you stay on Earth with me?”

The Yellow Paladin looked at his bluish cookies. Space had taught him many things - especially that his limits in the cooking field were those of his imagination - but maybe they deserved to stay home, now.

“Yeah. You can count on me. I’m staying.”

 

***

 

As she was heading for her bedroom, Pidge spotted a familiar figure.

“Lance!” she called.

The Cuban boy turned when he heard his name. He waited for Pidge to run and then stop right in front of him.

“Hi Pidge” he then said.

Pidge studied his face: he looked tired and sad. Since they had returned to Earth and especially after their fall at the end of the battle against Sendak, Lance didn’t seem something else than tired and sad, even after his parents and the rest of his family moved in a building near the Hospital. The girl figured it was probably because of his nightmares - they all started to have nightmares when they were recovering - but it was clear something else worried him.

More importantly, Pidge tried to figure out whether Lance was angry at her or, like Hunk, if he had understood what she meant earlier during the briefing.

“You okay?” she asked him.

Lance shrugged and smile lovely - but his eyes didn’t light up.

“Yes of course I am! Lance McClain, always ready for action!”

“So you’re ready to go back into space and fight some more Galras?”

His face turned pale on the instant and he looked always, embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck before answering, almost sheepishly:

“Yeah, right. I’m- But do we even have a choice?”

Pidge frowned.

“Of course we have!”

She hadn't planned to share what Hunk said to her - at least not for the moment - but if that meant convincing Lance to stay, she could betrayed their honest conversation.

“Look, I’m staying and Hunk too. We could find and train new pal-”

Lance’s eyes grew wide.

“Hunk’s staying?” he shouted with amazement.

Pidge winced and motionned him to be more quiet.

“Sorry” he said in a low voice.

The girl then explained him why she and Hunk had decided to stay and why it didn’t mean at all that they could be betraying Voltron and everything they’d believed in until now.

“Stay, Lance. We don’t need to do it. Not anymore.”

“I-”

He was clearly hesitating. He ran his fingers in his chocolate hair and sighed. At the moment he opened his mouth - maybe to say that he was joining her - he froze, looking behind Pidge's back. She turned on her heels and discovered Keith, a few feet from them. Obviously, he had heard them. Pidge took a deep breath but before she could say anything, he started moving again and walked briskly by them.

They could hear him huffing with pain as he forced on his legs and his crutches - he wasn’t even suppose to be walking yet. Lance closed his eyes and bit his lower lip.

“Sorry Pidge” he said finally, “I can’t.”

The girl tried to hold him up but he turned back and disappeared into his bedroom. Pidge had nothing better to do than go back to her own.

 

***

 

The three sharp knocks on the door made Allura lift her head.

“Come in.”

The door opened shyly and she wasn’t surprised to find Lance on her threshold. She pated the bed beside her. The Cuban boy sighed and smiled at her briefly before hurrying to the other half of the room. He sat next to her. They stayed silent for a few minutes but it wasn’t awkward for they enjoyed each other’s simple presence, without being required to talk.

But Allura eventually cleared her throat.

“So, Pidge, eh?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

Lance was fiddling with the fabric of his pajamas pants. Suddenly, he sat up and turned to Allura.

“Do you hate her?” he asked her out of the blue.

Allura looked shocked.

“Of course not! Why would I hate her? Lance, how could you even think that?”

“Still, you were on Shiro’s side.”

She closed her mouth and pressed her lips together. She rested both of her hands on her laps and took a deep breath. Lance sat cross-legged on the bed and stared at her in expectation.

“I think...” the princess started, “I think that she’s right. Too much were asked of you and as she pointed out, you’re merely teenagers.”

Lance didn’t react at the “teenagers” (technically, Pidge had been exaggerating on this one; they were more like young adults than kids, especially Keith after his ride on a cosmic whale) and stay focused on Allura’s face, trying to decipher her thoughts.

“But...?” he asked knowing full well that Allura wasn’t going to stay behind like Pidge wanted them to.

Allura sighed.

“But we can’t stop now. Voltron needs us. The Universe needs us. We’re everyone's only hope to end that endless war.”

She let a few seconds go by before adding, more softly:

“And there’s a “but” with you too, isn’t it? Or else you wouldn’t be there.”

Lance laughed.

“You know me awfully well, princess!”

She shrugged while smiling at him.

“Well, you aren’t that difficult to figure out, Paladin.”

She put her hand on his own and he gently squeezed her fingers.

“So?” she asked him.

He kept smiling but his face saddened.

“Actually, I’m not sure, Allura. What Pidge said... I just got my family back, too.”

Allura bent toward him and wiped a tear off his eye before it even had the chance to roll down on his cheek.

“Is it about Keith?” she asked in her most tender voice.

He nodded.

“I can’t abandon him. Not... Not now.”

He wanted to say something along the lines of not since he even had trouble walking because he was fucking _disabled_ for the rest of life - but the words got stuck in his mouth.

Allura leaned forward and pulled him into a tight hug. He sighed and let his head rest on her shoulder.

“Lance, it wasn’t your fault.”

Wasn't it, really? He was supposed to be protecting Keith. If he hadn’t been that much of a smug, maybe he would have been the first to enter that room full of Galra soldiers. Or if he had been more effective when they had to flee or if he had been paying more attention to the Galras... Lance totally thought that everything that happened on that base located on Saturn was his fault.

“Mm” he said.

Allura hugged him even tightier and he could smell her hair. Allura's immaculate silky hair smelled so good and was so smooth. He loved touching it because it calmed his mind.

“Keith is so lucky to have you as a friend, Lance. Please, don’t forget that.”

He didn’t answer.

He thought about Pidge and felt sorry for her. But he knew that Keith wouldn’t stop fighting and as long as Keith would fight, Lance, too, would have to fight. Because he had promised himself that he would always be there by his side.

 

But God, did that whole thing suck.


	2. The Revolution of Pidge - Part Two

Shiro stood looking outside the window. From the Galaxy Garrison, you couldn’t see much of the city but it was somewhat soothing to know that it was there, no far away. Safe and being rebuilt.

Sam Holt came from behind and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned to him.

“You’re worried about Pidge” said Sam.

It was more of a statement than a question. Shiro nodded. He looked around, to the conference room which was still empty - Coran had gone to see Allura and was on his way back while Commander Iverson was probably still with the cadets. The meeting wasn’t due for fifteen more minutes. Shiro walked to the long table and sat at the end of the it, facing the entry door. Sam came sitting beside him.

“I don’t know what do to do, Sam” Shiro answered.

Sam took off his glasses and started cleaning them up by using the fabric of his sleeve on the temples.

“You think Katie is wrong.”

Shiro immediately shook his head.

“No! I think she’s right. She’s completely right.”

Sam put back his glasses and looked at him from across them.

“But?” he asked with a smirk.

Shiro sighed. He understood Sam only wanted to help but he didn’t know what he himself thought about that whole thing.

“But we need them nonetheless. We can’t wast time training others Paladins.”

Sam tilted his head but didn’t answer. They both fell silent, Shiro staring at the door and waiting for two other Council members to come in and Sam running some late-minute calculations. Eventually, he spoke again, softly:

“Can you imagine what she said, though? To have Paladins from differents species just like the first Voltron?”

Shiro could imagine it. It would be so nice. He thought that, when the war would be over, the current Paladins would finally get to retire. And anyone in the Universe could come and try becoming the next Paladins. That would be amazing to witness.

The door opened and they both rose on their feet.

“Hello there” said Coran.

“Mr. Holt. Commander Shirogane” saluted Iverson.

They shook hands and sat back.

“I assume we’re all here to discuss the Paladins situation” said Iverson.

Shiro chuckled.

“You all know me so well.”

The man took a moment to calm down and gather his thoughts. Then he explained what they were already aware of; how Katie Holt and Hunk most likely suffered from PTSD and how Keith body had yet to recover (also, that it would never truly heal so that the boy’s legs were paralyzed for life). According to Coran, Lance and Allura were doing mostly okay, both mentally and physically, as the both of them were training and doing missions on a daily basis.

“But Lance tends to be homesick” added Shiro. “I don’t think he’ll be enthusiastic at the thought of going back into space.”

Iverson squinted his only valid eye at him.

“We all know that already” he said. “Why don’t you just give us your conclusions already?”

Shiro bit his lips.

“Actually... That’s the problem. I don’t know what to do.”

Before anyone could speak, he added:

“I have decided to create this Council to assure Earth’s safety. We’re all here because of a reason. Sam is our tech genius, Coran knows more about the Universe than any of us, I’m the Captain of the ATLAS, our best ship and last defense line for the Earth and you, Iverson, are in charge of the training of the new recruits.

“So here’s the problem we’re currently facing: the Earth is no longer in danger. However, we aren’t safe either. The trap the Paladins fell into on their mission to the Saturn base proves that the Galras haven’t given up on Earth. And I’m not even talking about that Altean who attacked us - that could mean Lotor’s back.

“Earth has become a shelter for everyone in the Universe and Voltron would always protect us. But I fear than it wouldn’t be enough. If someone achieve to reunite all the Galras under their power, we may not be able to resist this time.”

Coran fiddled with his moustache for a split second before asking:

“You’re suggesting we attack them where they are. Going back into space.”

“Yes.”

They fell silent. There were many problems to that plan. Not to mention the Paladins’ recent defection, going back into space would also mean leaving Earth without Voltron to defend it.

Sam, who was looking at the ATLAS blueprints, raised his voice.

“We could create hangars to store the Lions in. With a training room, we could even embark some extra people that we could train to become the next Paladins.”

Coran’s moustache tingled with excitation.

“A second Castle of Lions” he whispered.

Iverson raised his hands.

“Hold on. Are you suggesting that the ATLAS would also leave Earth?” he asked.

Shiro winced.

“That would mean leaving Earth completely defenseless.”

“Not necessarily” Sam replied.

He tapped his screen and what was being displayed on also appeared suddenly on the big screen wall, behind Shiro. It was a footage from five different building sites, scattered around the Earth.

“Thanks to the help of the refugees, we have already began the construction of five new battleships. The Olkari helped me solving the starting up problem we had with the ATLAS and the Balmeran people provided us with the crystals we needed. These new ships won’t be as effective as the ATLAS is and er-” he readjusted his glasses on his neck “certainly won’t be able to turn into a giant robot like it can but they’ll be more than enough against a Galra fleet.”

Iverson grunted.

“Well, looks like you have considered everything.”

At this moment, there were three sharp knocks on the door. Shiro opened it remotely and the MFE pilots entered.

“Griffin?” asked Iverson, “what’s the meaning of this? Couldn’t you just wait until that meeting was finished?”

James saluted him - along with the three others pilots.

“I’m sorry sir, but we wanted to talk to you about Voltron.”

Shiro raised his hand towards Iverson and gesture him to wait.

“What is it?” he asked the young adults.

They suddenly looked embarrassed. Finally, James Griffin, the leader of the MFE fighters squad answered him.

“We would like to try entering the Lions.”

“With your permission, sir” blurted Ina Leifsdottir.

Shiro frowned.

“What?”

James turned redder than before and he struggled to find his words.

“We, er, heard that the Paladins didn’t want to be Paladins anymore and, er, we thought that, er, maybe we could replace them?”

 More confident than her leader, Nadia Rizavi stepped forward to speak up.

“We believe that our training makes us the most capable persons to become the next Paladins.”

Shiro shook his head.

“Do you even listen to yourselves?”

He put his hands on the table and leaned on it - Ina briefly wondered if he pressed on his right arm with as much weight as he did on his left arm (because obviously, there was a quiznaking gap between his shoulder and his elbow) - and closed his eyes to try focusing. He knew how devoted were the MFE pilots and they spoke truth about their training; unlike the current Paladins, they had been training and had fought in a war longer than the Paladins did themselves. Plus, if they’d leave, it would be on their free will, not because of some alien magic portal they couldn’t control.

“Sir, please...” said Ina.

“We have not decided to form new Paladins yet” Shiro finally said.

But James frowned.

“So why is someone else than Pidge testing the Green Lion right now?” he exclaimed.

The four adults stared right at him.

“What.”

The boy looked surprised.

“Yeah. Pidge is making some Olkari to pilot her Lion. I thought you knew” he added sheepishly.

Shiro stood up and ordered Sam to display the current footage of the sky onto the screen wall. They could all see the Green Lion flying around the Garrison, some one thousand feet above it.

“Put me in contact with them” asked the former Black Paladin.

“Right away, Shiro” replied Sam.

Shiro cleared his throat but some anger could be heard in his voice.

“Pidge? Is that you?”

A few seconds went by before Pidge’s voice came through the intercoms.

“No. Look down.”

Sam found the security camera for the Garrison’s yard and zoomed on the lonely figure standing in the middle of it. Pidge was using a headphone and a microphone attached to it to help hear and be heard in the middle of the others training pilots.

She looked as serious as he was.

“Could you explain to me what’s happening?” Shiro asked her and he wished he wasn’t feeling that angry - he’d never wanted to get mad at Pidge.

“What I told you” the girl answered. “I found a new pilot for the Green Lion.”

Shiro was speechless. What was he supposed to do? Let Pidge retire just like that, because an Olkari had been accepted by her Lion? It was true that a Lion could accept more than one Paladin at the same time - it happened when Keith left them for the Blade of Marmora so that he (or rather, his clone) had to pilot the Black Lion until he’d come back - and that Sam’s plan was to take the next generation of Paladins on board of the ATLAS.

“I must say they doing quite well!” exclaimed Coran - to not make it easier.

But at that precise moment, the Olkari lost control of the Lion and came crashing down on the desert near the Galaxy Garrison.


	3. The Revolution of Pidge - Part Three

Pidge laid her head on the room’s external window. From across her large glasses, she watched the Olkari talked cheerfully with the nurse. When a hand rested on her shoulder, she lifted her head to find Shiro by her side. She grunted.

“I know I’ve made a mist-”

“This is not your fault” said Shiro.

She stared at him, surprised.

“Plus, he’ll be fine. The doctors said that he just got afraid but that there’s no real injury.”

Pidge looked back at the alien the Green Lion accepted and that she tried to train so he could become the Green Paladin and take her place. She hadn’t had the guts to go apologize to him yet.

“He’ll be out before noon.”

“Shiro...”

They all got scared when Su-Hei lost control of the Lion and crashed down into the desert. Pidge more than anyone else. She wondered if they were cursed - if there was really no way other than getting back into the Lions and into the fight. No way for them to peacefully retire. To stay back on Earth.

“Is everyone else ready?” she asked.

Of course, she got word of the expedition. They were all going back into space - the Lions, the Paladins, the ATLAS and its crew, the MFE pilots. And a bunch of other people - aliens wanting to fight or get a ride home, fresh recruits to be formed directly on the field, all sort of technicians and scientists.

Shiro bit his lips but eventually answered her.

“Yes. Everyone.”

She could finish his sentence for him: “but you”.

So that meant even Hunk agreed.

“I see.”

She sighed and turned on her heels, ready to exit that wing of the Garrison - its infirmary.

“Katie!” Shiro called her.

She looked back at him over her shoulder and saw how embarrassed he was. He didn’t like a bit of what happened over the course of the last two days - but neither did she.

“Listen” he said, “I understand why you-”

She didn’t let him finish.

“I lost, Shiro. End of the discussion.”

Before she crossed the thresold heading for the corridor where the elevator was, she softly added:

“I’ll be a good Paladin, now. Just like before.”

As she left the infirmary, she tried not to think about that one time, in the beginning of their adventure, when she tried to walk away, to find her family on her own, but the other Paladins managed to talk her out of that idea.

She really went full circle.

 

When she was out of the building, she looked up at the ATLAS. The ship took half the Garrison’s landing surface. It had been brought outside so to facilitate its loading. The Lions were to be put aboard just before the people.

Pidge saw Allura and Coran discussing with the technicians on a scaffolding leaned to the ship. Coran wiggled his moustache as always and Allura had an impressive smile across her face. She was surely enjoying all that.

“Hi Pidge. Su-Hei’s okay?”

She turned to see Hunk coming up to her while gently pushing away his numerous little brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews. Except for Lance’s family, Pidge had never witnessed such a big family - and one that lived together and in harmony, on top of it.

“Yeah. Doc said he’s gonna get out real soon, now.”

Hunk sighed with relief.

“Oh thanks God! I wouldn’t have liked it if it had been like for us.”

“Me neither.”

Hunk turned red.

“Oh no, Pidge, that’s not what I meant! I-”

Pidge smiled to him.

“It’s okay, Hunk. I know.”

They stayed side by side, watching the loading of the ATLAS. To think they’d be travelling in that huge ship - one that could turn into a giant robot, even more giant than Voltron, on Shiro’s will! Plus, unlike the Castle of Lions, there would be tons of other people travelling with them, not to mention Romelle, the Blade of Marmora (mostly Krolia alone, though), Kalternacker - of course ! - and the MFE pilots.

Pidge had to admit, it was kind of exciting.

“Hey look!” said Hunk out of sudden, “There’s Keith!”

Pidge looked up and saw him behind the ATLAS, on the other side of the landing space. Their leader was taking a walk. Keith had finally gotten his prostheses - they were linked directly to his nerves so to activate his legs the way his mind would have done it itself if the neural connections weren’t cut - and he was getting used to them. He was still having a bit of trouble to keep his balance so he rested largely on Lance, his left arm wrapped around the boy’s neck. Lance himself had his hand coming behind his back and grasping his hip and the other staying near his belly, in case he would trip and fall forward.

When Lance spotted them, he waved at them cheerfully. Keith lifted his head and smiled at them, too.

“He’s really getting better, dontcha think?” said Hunk.

Pidge looked at him.

“Who is? Keith?”

Hunk smirked mischievously.

“Actually, the both of them.”

The girl returned to him his mischievous smirk.

“Totally right.”

 

***

 

At night, the ships’ lights turned dim and orange. Pidge was walking up the dormitory corridor. She waved and saluted back the people she knew on her way. It was the first night and some were still arranging their rooms. If the Paladins had been granted their own bedrooms (as they used to have back in the Castle of Lions), the majority of the ATLAS’s crew were supposed to share theirs with one or two other people.

The girl passed by Ina and Nadia’s room. Both of them were already in their pajamas and smiled brightly at Pidge.

“Good night!” they said to her.

“Good night!” she replied.

Finally, she arrived at the boys’ wing and knocked three then two then three times on a door, similar to every other door. She didn’t wait for long.

“Come in!”

The door slided open.

“Come on in!” Hunk repeated and he tapped the seat next to him.

Pidge entered Lance’s room and came sitting on the cushions which were covering the floor up to the large T.V. screen.

“OK folks!” exclaimed Lance while holding a pile of CDs. “This time, I’ve taken my precaution. So, which one do you want to play?”

He let all the games fall to the ground and the three of them started picking one randomly, looking at its cover, saying “nah” and pushing it away. Finally, they all agreed on Star Wars Battlefront - a classic one.

They connected the gamepads to the console and put the CD in it. While Lance was making the extensive list of their missions and the planets on which they’d have to carry them out, Pidge spotted Hunk looking fondly at his phone and tapping quick messages. She leaned towards him to get a better look and saw he was talking with Shay.

“Is she on board?” she asked.

Hunk shook his head.

“Why? You didn’t invite her?”

The Yellow Paladin smiled gently - and somewhat sadly.

“Actually, she prefered to stay on Earth. With my parents. She said she wanted to help with the Reconstruction.”

They both looked up at the T.V. screen - and at Lance who was so focused right now he didn’t even heard them. Pidge’s eyes went back to Hunk.

“So, er, how are you both doing?”

Hunk shrugged.

“You know.”

Pidge waited a few seconds.

“...No, I don’t” she said when she realized he wasn’t going to spill the beans.

Hunk looked away and fiddled with the controls on his pad.

“Well, I mean. We didn’t even get to see each other much before. And now it’s been three years for her. So it’s... weird.”

Pidge laughed bitterly.

“Yeah, I could understand that.”

She sat up as Lance was about to finally lunch the first mission.

“Anyway, I hope you’ll work it out. You two are totally meant to be together.”

“Aw, thanks Pidge” replied Hunk while blushing.

They redirected their attention to the screen, in expectation. But the game didn’t get started. They turned to Lance to see that he was open-mouthed with astonishment.

“Is there a problem?” asked Pidge.

The Cuban boy shook his head.

“No! I mean yes! I mean! I though you two, you were...”

“Yeah?”

“Well I thought you two you were together...”

Hunk and Pidge both looked offended.

“What? Ew!”

“No way!”

“Lance” said Hunk, “Pidge’s aro-ace, you should know she’s not interested in that kind of stuff.”

Lance put his hands up as if he was giving up.

“Okay, okay! Fine! I didn’t know!”

And to make sure they wouldn’t keep on, he started the game.

Their first mission was for them to retrieve a flag and bring it back to their camp. They decided to play in team rather than in 2v1 that would make it far too unfair for the “1”. Lance decided to play the sniper - his favorite character - while Hunk and Pidge, both armed with what was certainly supposed to be a bazooka, ran right into the middle of the enemies, took the flag and went back in their camp in less than one minute.

“Oh yeah! Hidge stroke again!” they shouted - and they highfived each other.

Lance sighed.

“To be fair, you’re not making it easy to know” he mumbled.

They won the game and the next one started. No flag this time: they had to capture - and hold - as many posts as possible. While Hunk secured theirs, Pidge and Lance ran forward to capture new ones. But Pidge was slighty behind Lance and everytime she shot, he got startled. Obviously, she was doing it on purpose.

“By the way, Lancey Lance” she said casually, “How’s love for __you__? I talked to your sis, Veronica and you and Allura seem really close.”

Lance blushed but tried to stay focused.

“It’s nothing like that” he answered.

“Yeah, yeah” said Pidge - she didn’t believe it at all.

Lance sighed and looked - briefly - at her.

“Look, I’m being honest here. Allura and me, we’re just friends. Maybe I had a crush on her before, but that was before. We talked about it and now we’re just friends.”

Pidge didn’t answer. She felt Lance’s honesty in his voice and didn’t want to embarrass him with something that wasn’t true anymore.

But Hunk wasn’t done.

“And what about Keith...?”

Lance nearly choked and on the screen, there was a flash of light and Hunk was catapulted dead at the other side of the map.

“WHAT THE QUIZNAK.”

“Don’t worry, I’m coming!” shouted Pidge.

The mess that followed - Pidge couldn’t get to Hunk’s last position before being shot dead, Lance was under heavy fire and losing his post, Hunk had reappeared too far away - prevent them from talking about it any further.

Thirty minutes later, they heard knocks on the door and when they opened it, they discovered Allura in her pajamas.

“Can I come?” she asked them almost shyly.

Lance’s smile beamed.

“Yeah, of course!”

“I’m installing you your gamepad” said Hunk immediately.

They had to explain to her every controle on the pad but they had no doubt she would get a hand of them before the end of the first mission.

“What’s next by the way?” asked Pidge.

Before anyone could answer, she had her answer for the game’s loading finished: it was Dagobah and a flag mission. Pidge moaned.

“Oh, kill me right now” she pleaded.

“Oh!” said Allura enthusiastically, “It’s like planet Afhul of the Cerenionum Constellation!”

“I’m gonna write it down right now so I’ll never go there” decided Hunk.

The girls teamed up against the boys on that mission and even though Allura would sometimes shoot her enemies as much as her allies, the girls won.

“Re-match!” shouted Lance.

And they played another game. And another one when the two girls won again. And another one where they all teamed up together. And another one because that was fun. Hunk and Pidge eventually fell asleep around six in the morning but Allura and Lance kept playing and chatting until nine.

Later, when they all missed the ten o’clock briefing and Shiro lectured them, Pidge would say that it was all “worth it”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of the first episode! I hope you guys enjoyed it!


	4. Red Paladins - Part One

Lance opened the doors to the training room only to find Keith already doing some fighting in there. He wasn’t surprised, thought, as the half-breed had always been a geek for training sessions. He wasn’t surprised either to see that Keith’s opponent was Acxa.

He may have been a bit disappointed however.

The Cuban boy strolled by them, heading for the end of the room where the shooting range was located. The ATLAS’ training room was huge enough for several soldiers to train at the same time on different exercises. Lance took out his bayard - which soon morphed into his familiar sniper gun - and programmed the computer to his personalized exercise. He put on the simulation helmet.

“Training begins” beeped the computer, “Distance to target: 10 feet.”

The first one was more than easy; Lance didn’t even bother to use his visor. He shot the targets - some shady figures of different shapes and heights - at soon as the computer made them appear. The distance grew until it reached his weapon’s maximum potential - of course, it was a simulation and his bayard was programmed as such so Lance only had the impression of a infinite field facing him while in reality he was shooting at a screen from twenty feet away.

As he had successfully passed the “warming up” level, the computer took the training to the upper level. The Paladin waited patiently for the battle field to appear in front of him; there were semi-demolished buildings, roads broken with giants holes and a thin layer of smoke.

“Training begins” beeped the computer. “Mission goal: 10 targets.”

The first one appeared on his left, some thirteen feet away. Too close to use his weapon for its sniper capacity; Lance shot on sight. The second target emerged quite farther, half-hidden in the smoke. Lance used his visor and it took three seconds to fire. He took down the eight remaining targets as easily. After what he closed his eyes and breathed slowly as the battle field rearranged itself.

“Training begins. Mission goal: 10 targets. Time: 300 seconds.”

This one was trickier. But Lance made his way through the level three and then the level four. He was lightly sweating when the level five was being put in place. Level five was his higher achievement until now.

“Training begins. Mission goal: 20 targets. Time: 60 seconds.”

He breathed out. And started to shoot. He took down ten targets in thirty seconds and then five more in fifteen seconds. One more. Two more. Three more.

“Time left: 10 seconds.”

Lance’s hands were shaking from the stress. Where was that damn target? He only had two of them left! He peered at the smoke with the hope to see through it, searching into the shadows inside the buildings and inside the pits on the roads. Finally, he spotted the round dark figure on a side of the road, near a burning vehicle.

“Time left: five, four, three...”

Quiznaking quiznak! Just one left! He looked everywhere, through his visor, zooming and dezooming. The fake smoke felt almost like real shit so that his eyes shed tears unconsciously. The quiznak was... There! He fired three times, completely losing control of his nerves.

“Level completed. Processing to install lev-”

Lance took out his helmet and breathed out loudly.

“Wow. That was really amazing.”

He looked sideways and saw Allura. He smiled back at her and wagged his hand around vaguely. He tried to act it cool - but he kind of felt drained on the inside.

“Oh, you know... Just basic sharpshooter’s training, here.”

Allura rolled her eyes but let him hear her jovial giggle.

“Yes, I can see that.”

She handed him over a fruit juice and he gladly took it after thanking her. He laid his body back against the wall and now that his mind was free from focusing on his training and that he faced the rest of the room again, he couldn’t stop but let his eyes wander over Keith. His friend was struggling through his fight with Acxa. His exoskeleton wrapped around his paralyzed legs wasn’t familiar enough for him to move just the way he used to before the accident. He mainly stood and blocked Acxa’s attacks with his energy shield. Everytime he tried to strike back, he would miss and trip. And, of course, Acxa wasn’t going easy on him.

Allura caught his glaze - and probably his thoughts too.

“Lance, why aren’t you asking him to train together?” she asked softly but firmly.

He winced and turned to her.

“Because it’s Keith.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“He’ll never want to train with me. He thinks I’m not serious enough. Okay, maybe sometimes I’m not into it at 100% but we’re not real soldiers right? We have the right to chill out!”

He saw Allura’s frown and shut his mouth. Eventually, he sighed and added:

“Yeah, whatever. I’m fine here.”

Allura put her hand on his shoulder and he reached for it, gently squeezed her fingers with his own. He smiled pitifully at her.

“Lance, you two are going to go on a mission together, remember? So, from my point of view, it would be basic team bonding” the Princess told him.

He shrugged.

“Acxa is going with us, too. And look: she’s far more capable in close combat than I’ll ever be. Keith doesn’t need to fight someone weaker than her.”

The Altean suddenly looked delighted.

“Oh, that I can take care of!”

She removed her hand from his shoulder and before he could ask her what she meant, she patted him on the shoulder.

“Have fun training with Keith!”

And with that, she moved away rapidly. Lance frowned as he watched her going to where Keith and Acxa were fighting and calling for the latter. Lotor’s former lieutenant stopped and walked towards her. Allura had a word in her ear and then the two of them exited the room.

Keith and Lance were left alone.

Lance bit his lips, both cursing and blessing Princess Allura, before eventually, walking across the room to meet up with the Black Paladin.

“So, like, as it seems you’re alone now” he said (and Goddammit Lance are you for serious with that first sentence) “maybe we could train together?”

Keith stared at him for a few seconds before shrugging.

“Yeah, why not. If you want.”

Lance took out his bayard again and this time, focused hard on it - until not his gun but his sword instead got materialized. Keith didn’t seem to bother.

They began fighting each other. Lance tried to remember everything Shiro and Allura had ever taught him about close combat, watching for his feet and the unprotected parts of his body. But soon, something appeared to be off and Keith took a step back, pissed.

“Why are you so fucking slow, Lance? Are you making fun of me?”

While his question made him frown with his own anger, the Cuban boy managed to remain calm.

“I am not Mullet! I am just allowing you to move!”

Keith looked taken aback.

“To move... how?” he asked, confused.

Lance’s voice didn’t soften - Keith was such an idiot, he tough. He had been spending the last ten minutes to fight as slow as possible so his friend could see him coming and do, well, whatever he would do normally if he hadn’t had these prostheses on.

“How you used to! Listen, Mullet, I watched you with Acxa and I couldn’t but notice how she never gave you the time to _try_  moving. Well, I’m giving you that time! So shut your quiznack and just move normally!”

Keith had turned entirely red. He looked down for a bit and Lance immediately calmed down. He didn’t mean to shout at him, after all.

His friend raised his head and his sword again while trying not to look directly at him - nice try, Lance thought, but their gaze would eventually meet given that they were fighting each other.

“Okay...” the Black Paladin said.

Lance put his hands on his hips.

“Sure?”

Keith growled.

“Yeah, sure, whatever!”

They resumed their fight and Lance kept his movements as slow as before. But while Keith was previously on the defensive, taking minimum risks and trying not to move his damn legs, he now started to try more attacks. To be more like the Galra fighter Lance knew he was.

At first, he would often miss or his legs would simply not respond but little by little, his walk became smoother and he was able to get around faster. Lance decided to speed up. And Keith kept up with him.

They fought against each other for almost an hour until Keith suddenly rolled on the floor, getting in Lance’s back, and then kicked him on the ankle. Lance fell flat on the ground and before he could realize, Keith was bent over him, with his sword on his throat. They looked at each other for a split second before Lance burst our laughing.

“Okay, okay! You win, my fearsome leader, I surrender!”

Keith rose to his feet and handed out his hand to him. Lance took it and he helped him get back on his feet.

“Seems like you’ve gotten used to these things” Lance said softly, pointing at Keith’s prostheses.

The half-breed blushed.

“Yeah, seems like it.”

He crossed his arms on his chest and stared at Lance with his lips pressed together before looking away.

“I, er- Thank you, I guess” he said shyly.

Lance felt like something warm had exploded inside his body and got reflected into the booming smile he gave his friend.

“You’re welcome! You know you can always count on me!”

Keith finally grinned.

“Yeah, I know. Thank you Lance. For everything.”

They stood there, sifting their weight from one foot to another. Lance tried to glance at Keith without being noticed. They were so close from each other and he could clearly see how he had changed. Not to mention the weird pinky mark on his right cheek - that Lance considered as absolutely lovely - or his mullet, longer than ever, Keith was taller and his features were more mature.

It had taken time for Lance to get used to the idea than the Earth and his family had lived about three more years than he did. That he had now a cousin of his age while he was three years older when he went into space. Even Matt and Pidge felt awkward about Matt being twice older than his little sister and yet the two siblings had already been through some shit already. It was something they were still working out, all of them, but something they never truly thought about.

Keith had lived two years in the span of a few weeks for them.

Lance nervously rubbed the back of his head.

“Keith?” he asked. “Can I- Can I ask you a question?”

His friend didn’t blink.

“Yeah sure.”

“Did you miss us? When you were on that space whale or whatever” he added promptly.

Keith opened his mouth but no sound came out. The young adult crossed and de-crossed his arms and when he spoke, it was with his most timorous voice Lance had ever heard him use.

“Yes. I missed you.”

Suddenly, he stared back at him like he had realized something.

“All of you! I mean I missed all of you!”

Lance frowned and smiled.

“Yeah, calm down. I figured you didn’t mean... That you didn’t mean you hate some of us.”

For a unknown reason, Keith was red from head to hands - Lance couldn’t see his toes.

“Exactly! I don’t hate any of you!”

But that wasn’t something Lance would care about, would he?

“Cool, bro! Perfectly cool!”

He vaguely pointed to the door.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m gonna, er, take a shower.”

“Yeah, me too.”

They walked awkwardly side by side - Keith didn’t show any difficulty or a stagger or something like that - until they were back int the corridor. They parted, Keith going to the left and Lance to the right.

When Keith was out of sight, Lance broke into a run right away, shouting.

“ALLURA!”

Something had happened.

Something had definitively happened and he didn’t know what to do.


	5. Red Paladins - Part Two

Lance was saying goodbye to Allura in a corner of the hangar - Keith and Acxa were already standing near the Red Lion, probably listening to Shiro’s last piece of advice or - more likely - just waiting for him.

“Be careful” said the Princess.

He offered her his best flirtatious smile while doing the finger guns he always did when he wanted to look like he was in control of the situation.

“Don’t worry, milady, we’ll be back before you can say Kalternecker!”

(He really did miss that cow - but space was definitively not for a cow.)

He swiftly turned on his heels but Allura grabbed his arms at the last second.

“Oh and Lance” she added. She gave him an unreadable look. “Don’t get too distracted, okay?”

Lance took a deep breath as he felt his cheeks turning red.

“Yeah. Right.”

He turned and ran to his two other teammates but made sure to have his helmet down on his face when he arrived near them.

“Let’s go” said Keith as soon as he was there.

The three of them entered Red and took off.

 

***

 

The ATLAS received hints of Enzor and Zethrid’s presence on a remote and uninhabited planet one day ago. Since the Voltron team along with the Garrison and the ATLAS in tow had lunched themselves into the sky again, capturing Lotor’s former lieutenants had been a priority and now they may had a chance to succeed (if their intel was right).

As the planet had a tricky atmosphere and Lotor’s ships could fly at an extreme speed (far superior to the MFE’s), Shiro and the Council had decided to only send in the fastest and nimblest Lion of all - the Red one.

Keith was to accompany Lance as the leader of Voltron (and because obviously, sending Lance there alone wouldn’t have been the greatest idea of Shiro so far). And Acxa volunteered because she knew Enzor and Zethrid and was confident enough she could defeat them in single combat. Lance didn’t know what he thought about either of them coming with him. In his Lion. Against Lotor’s ex-lieutenants.

Keep it cool, he only thought to himself when they left the ATLAS.

They didn’t speak for the entire time. Lance spotted some funny space rocks and others things like that but the two Galra warriors at his side didn’t look like they were in a gaming mood. He mused over that mission that would have been a lot more fun if he had been paired with Hunk. And possibly Matt. Matt was unbelievably smart and one of the most cautious guy when it got down to a mission, as it turned out, but he was also one of the most funny dude aboard the ATLAS and now that Allura wasn’t a matter anymore, their rivalry had no more reason to be and he and Lance had finally become quite close these past few days. But, of course, he had to end up with Keith “I only care about my mission” Kogane and his as-much-emo girlfriend Acxa.

No, don’t think about it, he told himself.

“We’re almost there” he announced.

At least, there was something he could focus on.

“Land your Lion over here” said Acxa while pointing at a breakthrough in the jungle.

He nodded and had Red land smoothly. They all closed their helmet to prevent them from having an unwanted surprise about the oxygen - Pidge told them the air outside was breathable but they didn’t want to take any risk.

As they exited the Lion and Lance found himself the last one to step on the alien planet, he noted Acxa wearing a Blade’s suit but also noted how Keith had kept his Paladin suit. This made him feel somewhat happy.

“The two signals we intercepted aren’t far away from here” said Acxa looking down at her holographic screen displaying all Pidge’s live information. “I propose we split up; I’ll go west and you’ll go est.”

“Okay” said Keith. “We’ll stay in permanent radio contact.”

They parted, Acxa going for the left and them to the right. Keith took out his bayard and so did Lance. He kept his gun near his shoulder so he’d be ready to shoot at any time.

“You know what” he said while scanning the massive jungle with his gun’s visor while Keith was clearing up the path for them with his sword, “we should have taken Pidge’s Lion instead. Because, you know, the jungle’s her thing.”

“We took Red because we needed the fastest Lion, Lance” replied the half-breed. “Plus, you know that Pidge doesn’t want to fly if there’s another way.”

His voice sounded bitter, as if he was lecturing Lance about not remembering Pidge’s unwillingness to fly again. As if Lance could have forgotten something as awful as that!

The Cuban boy glanced at his leader but gave up on explaining how that was supposed to be a _joke_. After a few more steps, he thought about asking him how his legs were doing (he couldn’t see his prostheses, hidden beneath the suit) but gave up again. The guy wouldn’t let him make jokes or worry about him. Lance was kind of getting pissed by that attitude. And to think about yesterday’s training when they-!

His trail of thoughts was cut out by Acxa’s voice coming in their intercoms.

“I’ve got visual on Zethrid. She seems to... No, wait, I- No!”

Only the cracking sound remained. The two boys stopped walking.

“Acxa! Acxa come in!” shouted Keith highly concerned about their comrade.

At the same time, Lance heard something moving between the huge trunks and the dense bushes. He turned to face the noise but before he could do anything else, he got shot.

“Lance!”

The shot perforated his right arm just beneath his shoulder and the impact as well as the sudden pain that irradiated from the wound had him fall backward and drop his bayard.

What the quiznak had just happened.

Promptly, Keith had his energy shield raised and was kneeling beside him.

“Lance, talk to me! Lance! Are you alright?!”

The Cuban boy groaned. He pressed his upper arm where he was wounded with his hand and when he looked back at it, it was dripping blood. Meanwhile, Keith was under the enemy’s fire - hopefully the energy shield was blocking all of their attacks.

“Lance” Keith said in a pressing voice, “you need to get up. Please.”

Lance swallowed and tried to get back on his feet but as soon as he put his right hand on the ground to sustain his weight, his wound made his brain explode with a burning pain and he couldn’t help but fall again with a scream.

“Lance!”

Keith swore as he blocked more upcoming fire. He put his bayard away and wrapped his arm around Lance’s torso after the Red Paladin had managed to get his own weapon back. While Keith kept protecting the both of them from a still invisible enemy, they started to retreat to the Red Lion. As soon as they got there, Keith pushed Lance inside before going in himself.

Lance climbed up to the pilot seat and let himself collapse on it.

“We have to get Acxa back!” Keith shouted as he waltzed in the tight space one second afterwards.

Lance tried to nod but he felt numbed and hot. Keith noticed and took off his helmet - and then his own. He placed his cold hand on Lance’s forehead and the Cuban boy moaned. The Black Paladin then looked at his wound; the suit had a black hole in it and was now completely covered in Lance’s blood. Keith’s voice softened.

“Can you do it?”

Shaking from his fever - consecutively to his whole body reacting to his injury - Lance grabbed the controls and closed his fingers around them. He clenched his teeth but the moment he tried to pull them to him in order to have his Lion take off, the pain stroke again and he sat back, painting and suffering under Keith’s eyes.

“I don’t- I don’t- I’m sorry, Keith.”

He had tears in his eyes. Way to go to show him how you were better than Acxa, McClain. A breathtaking success, really.

But Keith didn’t looked anything near angry. Actually, if any, he looked worried. He bit his lips nervously and closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he reopened them, he looked determined.

“Okay, get up.”

Lance frowned but obeyed nonetheless. Keith took the pilot seat but then, he pulled Lance and made him sit on his laps. Lance immediately blushed - he was lucky Keith couldn’t see his face at all now.

“Go on” said Keith breathing directly on his neck.

Lance grabbed the control again but only the left one - and Keith took the right one. The two held their breath in expectation but Red didn’t seem to care about having two people monitoring her. Keith wrapped his left hand around Lance to prevent him from falling forward - it was a warm spot on his belly.

Lance breathed with difficulty but he wasn’t sure if it was only due to his wound now.

“You’re ready?” asked Keith.

Lance nodded.

“Then, let’s go.”

At the same time, they pulled the levers to them and Red took off. They easily picked on Acxa’s signal - their suit were equipped with a tracker so they could never lost someone during a mission - and flew right at it.

The truth was, they didn’t feel like they would have needed time to adjust. Both of them had piloted the Red Lion at one point in time and they knew exactly how she reacted and how they had to react towards her. They were in perfect sync.

Red burst out of the jungle only to brutally land not a few miles farther, in the middle of a Galra installation.

“Surprise Motherfuckers” they grinned - before opening fire while Acxa climbed inside the Lion.

Enzor and Zethrid were already gone but there were definitively some weapons and intel they would able to retrieve from that Galra compound.

“Not bad McClain” Keith muttered in his ear as the others Lions followed by the ATLAS were landing around them.

“Not bad yourself Mullet” Lance replied feeling Keith’s hand lightly squeezing his belly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit late for that one but I hope you guys enjoyed it nonetheless!


	6. A Trip to Cuba - Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! Tags have been updated! Please, proceed with caution as for now on, death(s) will be depicted.

A Trip to Cuba - Part One

 

The popular kid was talking. He leaned casually against his ship as he was just back from yet another successful flight - he wasn’t called the best pilot of his generation for nothing after all.

“Yes, that’s right” he told the other Garrison recruits gathered around him, “You are all invited to my birthday party in my home town, in Cuba.”

A enthusiastic - even hysterical - whisper ran through the crowd. Everyone had heard of where the popular cadet was from and knowing it they all expected the party to be big - like huge.

“All of you!” he said again with his devastating good look and equally flirtatious smile, “Even you Kogane!”

He deliberately pointed at the boy he had just called out. Keith was standing feet away from the cadet’s groupies, arms crossed and looking something between confused and plain emo, as always.

Everyone turned to him while he lifted his head because he heard his name. It took him less than a second to analyze what was going on - obviously and though he tried not to act like it, he was totally listening to the whole conversation. He lightly blushed.

“I don’t-” He stopped and took a short breath. “Whatever. I’m not interested.”

He quickly looked away so that no one could see his internal turmoil.

“Told you” said James Griffin in a faint whisper in Lance’s ear. “You should forget that guy. He’s not worth it.”

Lance slang his arms across his best friend’s shoulder and dramatically sighed.

“I can’t. I said everyone was invited.”

He smirked and passed his tongue over his adorable - and adored - lips.

“I’ll talk to him. In private.”

So, when the crowd had dispersed and everyone was going either to the shower or to their bedroom before they’d be called for dinner in the vast common room, Lance left Griffin at their share room’s threshold and went after Keith. He arrived at the boy’s bedroom before him and leaned on the wall, next to the door.

“So, you’ll come to my party, right?” he asked with his most devastating smile.

Keith couldn’t help but blush again and he blamed himself for doing so. His reaction again his own shyness was anger.

“Leave me alone McClain!” he almost shouted while opening his door.

But before he could locked himself in, Lance grabbed his arm.

“Look” he said in all genuine seriousness, “I really want you to come. Please.”

Keith brutally shook off his grip and shoved his hands in his pockets. He appeared pissed but eventually, he looked at the ground, sliding his feet around on the floor in circles.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask my mom.”

Lance clapped his hands together.

“Great! No problem!”

He smiled again.

“I have to go now. I’m counting on you Kogane!” he added while doing his finger guns and walking backward to wherever he was heading now.

Keith turned red and slammed the door to his bedroom shut really fast. Then he leaned against it waiting for his heartbeat to calm down and musing on how much he _hated_  Lance.

Though he was already looking forward to that party.

 

As promised, every cadets in Lance’s grade found themselves in Cuba for the ravest party of all time. One week of volley ball on the beech, handmade fireworks on the nights, barbecue all day and swimming and diving and all those kind of things kids were mad about and that you could do while you were hosted in a big house near a beach and a perfectly clear sea.

“Hoy Mullet! ¿Cómo estás?”

(Lance was speaking half the time in spanish now, given his family and childhood friends always surrounding him.)

Keith shrugged and stayed focused on the small colorful fishes swimming between his legs as he stood perfectly still near the shore, knee-deep in the salt water. Lance, who had parted from his friends because of how far from everyone else Keith preferred to remain, joined him and his movements made all the fishes to flee.

“You want some?” he asked, handing out his sandwich with a freshly-fried merguez stuffed inside it to the half-breed.

Keith shook his head and started to bury his right foot on the sand in a weirdly wary way.

“Oh ¡vamos!” Lance exclaimed. “You ain’t gonna tell me my country isn’t beautiful, are you?” he teased.

But Keith remained silent. If any, he looked a bit shy. As he had done before, Lance resolved to leave aside his flirtatious behaviour to only keep on his true self. He gently put his hand on Keith’s shoulder - which had the boy turn to face him.

“Don’t you want to sit down a bit? I know a place not far from here, there’s a beautiful view on the ocean and no one else ever comes. You want me to take you there?”

Keith seemed to hesitate, focusing on burying his other foot. He shrugged mildly.

“Okay” he said.

So they went there. There was a nice cliff behind them and rocks had fallen to the sea. It wasn’t dangerous anymore, to stand on those rocks. They decided to sit on the far extremity of it, facing the endless and flawless blue ocean. The sound of the waves making their way between the rocks, beneath them, was somewhat smoothing, as was the view itself. Keith slightly grinned.

They stayed there in silence or at least as long as it took for Lance to eat his sandwich - as it turned out, he made less irritating noises than Keith expected from the never ending loud boy. Then Lance starting to point at seaweed and fishes, naming them in his native tongue and telling everything he knew about them or some memories related to them - for example, once, after a terrible storm, the front of his house got covered in seaweed and he and his family struggled so damn much before they found the most efficient way to get rid of these. Keith burst out laughing when Lance mimicked how it was to remove seaweed that was half wet and half dry and the smell, after that, the _smell_!

“You know” Lance finally said, after they had cooled down, “I really think we could be good friends, the two of us. I mean, I want to be friend with you.”

Keith looked up at the cadet. To be honest, he had never been giving a honest thought about it before. As already stated, the guy was loud. Like, really loud. Like, you’d barely hear anyone else but him on the cafeteria. Plus, it’s was Lance fricking McClain, the most popular guy - and the most gifted pilot too because the two were related - of their year. And Keith, well Keith, he was just a kid who was shy and struggling through his classes. So it was not like Keith didn’t want to be friend with Lance. He simply thought Lance couldn’t be interested in being friend with him.

“I- I want to be your friend, too” the half-breed replied sheepishly.

Lance shifted on his seat to get closer to him and Keith let him. Then the Cuban boy ran his fingers through the boy’s dark hair at the base of his neck - which sent chills all over Keith’s body.

“Damn. You sure you’re not burning with that mullet?”

Keith reacted without thinking, ducking his head to escape Lance’s grip and then pulling his brown hair - but without meaning it to be harmful.

“What about you McClain? Isn’t that a mullet growing up here?”

The Cuban boy laughed.

“You got me Kogane, you got me” he smirked.

They both stared at each other. The sun was high - it was hot. They could hear the shouts and screams of their friends, back at the beach. Maybe if they could have a nice, fresh place, like in Lance’s bedroom - with the blinds lowered...

So they went there and here they were, in Lance’s bedroom, Lance’s arm wrapped around Keith’s shoulder. Keith immediately jumped on his feet and away from the other.

“What the hell?!”

Lance looked as startled as him but he raised his hand in a peace gesture.

“Calm down, Keith. I didn’t mean to-”

Actually, his mind was still a bit blurry about how and when they had come home and ended in that position.

“I don’t care! Get the hell away from me McClain!”

And the cadet stormed out of the room. Lance let himself fall backward on his bed, sighing. After a few seconds, he got up and went at the window to see Keith getting away - towards their place on the rocks, near the cliff. The Cuban boy deemed right to let out a moment before he’d run after him.

So when the sun was in a lower position, Lance made his way on the semi-immersed rocks, to his friend. Keith stiffened when he sat near him - a few feet away, though - but didn’t leave.

“Look Keith, I’m sorry-” he started.

He was cut off by a voice coming from behind them.

“Yeah, me too.”

They immediately turned to face a girl with a green hoodie, big glasses and a bigger gun in her hands.

“What the-?” Keith muttered.

They both slowly got back on their feet and doing so, got closer to each other, their hands touching lightly.

“I can’t promise you much but I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.”

The girl charged her big gun and aimed at them. Lance took Keith’s hand without even thinking about it.

“Wait.”

The half-breed frowned.

“Pidge?”

Lance looked at his friend then back at the girl and something in his mind woke up.

“Pidge? Is that you? What are you do-”

But before he could achieve his question, Keith suddenly yelled in utter pain and the three of them stared in awe at the spear coming out of his chest. One second later, the metal was drawn out and Keith collapsed on the floor without a sound, already dead.

“KEITH, NO!”

Lance stared with horror at the loved and yet cold body laying at his foot. His eyes fell on the weapon that had killed him and looking up to whoever was holding it, he got confused.

“Hunk..?”

Why was his best friend- wait, wasn’t his best friend Griffin? No, it was Hunk. But why wasn’t Hunk at his birthday party? No, must importantly, why the fuck did Hunk kill Keith?!

“Oops, sorry” chimed in Pidge.

His eyes got back to her, so full of tears that it almost blinded him enough for him not to see the shot she delivered and that hit him right in the heart, killing him instantly.

Pidge stared at Keith’s body then up at Hunk.

“I don’t think that was painless, Hunk” she winced.

The big guy didn’t seem to enjoy whatever was happening.

“But at least, he wasn’t expecting it. And he died quickly” he replied as Pidge moved towards him.

“Yes, as did Lance. And _he_  didn’t suffer.”

Hunk tilted his head. She could see his dismay all over his face. His hands were almost shaking. The Green Paladin tried to smile in order to cheer him up - just a bit, just enough for them to finish their mission.

“Come on, pal. Let’s not make them waiting, OK?”

He nodded.

“Ready?” he asked, steadying his stand on the slippery rocks.

She threw the huge gun she was bearing and in her hands appeared instead a small revolver. She pressed the barrel directly against Hunk’s forehead.

“You’d have to do it first” she reminded him.

“I know” Hunk answered in a low voice.

He breathed a few times.

“Sorry, it’s just-”

“You can do it Hunk.”

He nodded.

“OK, I’m ready. Three, two, one...”

He plunged his spear into Pidge’s heart and as the the girl got hit, she pulled the trigger of her gun.

The two lifeless bodies stood for a second before falling on the ground, near the two other Paladins, their friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I'm feeling a bit down at the moment and I'm wondering if all this is worth it, like do you guys even like the story?


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